BAD!

I love this article. Enough said. The design is great, the content is even better. Designers do need to be outsiders. My favorite statement: “maybe the client doesn’t need a brochure. Maybe he needs a new product. Maybe he really needs an advertising campaign. Or a decent copywriter. Or a career change. Maybe we should tell him.” I absolutely love the sarcasm and honesty that this article portrays.

This article was truely interesting to read. Not only was the layout of the article interesting, but it was a great collaboration for the content of the article. One of the most interesting aspects of the article was the comparison of products. Pepsi versus Coke, and others. The statement next to these comparisons is what is most interesting and true! "If graphic designers didn't exist how would we know the difference between..." then lists the comparisons. Designers are needed to persuade consumers to purchase one product over another, especially if it is something that you can't taste, and must be based solely on how well the product is marketed.

Branding the Individual

I have read so many articles and books (like Branded by Alissa Quart) that deal with how brands define an individual. Everything a person eats, wears, drives, etc., is a brand. The reason for which an individual chooses a certain brand over another has a lot to do with the emotion that is attached to purchasing a certain brand of product. There is no escape from being “branded.” I agree when Pavitt states, “we can use goods to locate ourselves and establish a sense of belonging.” Individuals who buy fancy cars and brand name clothing feel accepted in the social circle that they are trying to join. Branding is creating subcultures, and is inevitably dividing society. Is there a stop to this? I have no idea. I think branding becomes worse every year.

My cousin has an eight year old child, and when I went over to visit she was wearing an entirely new outfit from head to toe, including jewelry and shoes. I asked her what the occasion was, and why she had gotten new clothes. She said to me “Julie is the coolest girl in school because she buys her clothes from Justice, so mom took me shopping there so I can be just as cool as Julie.” It turns out that my cousin spent over $250.00 at a place called Justice in the mall because she didn’t want her child to feel left out at school. The entire store she said was aimed towards my cousin’s age range. There were hip new child stars such as Miley Cyrus modeling Justice clothing in their catalogue. I could not believe how brands were targeting such young children. I still can’t get over it.

The Impotence of Being Earnest

The designers who signed the First Things First Manifesto are understood as the upper class. Soar refers to them as the usual suspects in his article. When I read the First Things First Manifesto I was a little judgmental and frustrated with what was being proposed. I understand that these designers want to extend their skills to more worthy causes such as for educational or environmental purposes, however, the first thing that popped into my head was, “how will they make money to survive?” Then I realized, that the usual suspects who signed the manifesto don’t need to worry about money right now, they have spent their entire careers working in commercial advertising so they are pretty well off (and upper class) Like Soar mentions, what about the rest of us? What about the middle class designers who struggle to make ends meet. I am sure they would rather use their talents to better society and stay clear of commercial design; however it is just not in their budget to do so. If the usual suspects want to shift their priorities and have the means to do so, then nobody is stopping them. They can’t however expect all designers to shift their priorities when the middle class designers are not making the same pay check as they are.

Media, Gender, and Identity

We are without a doubt victims of branding, advertising, and media. I feel like tradition is established when the majority of society agrees on one societal issue. These “issues” are usually things like gender roles and social status. Media has always influenced the way in which women are perceived in comparison to men, or how homosexuals are perceived in comparison to heterosexuals. Gauntlett states “the traditional view of a woman as a housewife or low-status worker has been kick-boxed out of the picture by the feisty, successful 'girl power' icons. Meanwhile the masculine ideals of absolute toughness, stubborn self-reliance and emotional silence have been shaken by a new emphasis on men's emotions, need for advice, and the problems of masculinity.” I definitely agree with this statement and it is exceedingly obvious that gender categories have been changed/blurred/shattered, due to the change in traditions. Women are more independent and successful than ever before. I know more single women than I do who are married or in a relationship. My cousin is a thirty-two year old female who has one of the highest paying positions in a pharmaceutical company, and is happily not married or in a serious relationship. She gets what she wants and swallows men up whole. She chooses to defy the gender roles and does a damn good job at it. If she were living in the 1960’s I’m sure her life would be a lot different because the media would dictate her role in society. If it wasn’t for all of the “girl power” and the emphasis on women being independent in the media, then I’m sure many of the women who are successful today would be in a totally different place in society. As for men in crisis…it’s about time that advertising and media give men a run for their money. They’re really not in crisis though; they are just shifting to the new modern gender roles that society has created for them.

I agree with Gauntlett’s statement when he says, “the media disseminates a huge number of messages about identity and acceptable forms of self-expression, gender, sexuality, and lifestyle. At the same time, the public have their own even more robust set of diverse feelings on these issues.” Mass media and audience power are almost equal (in today’s society, maybe not generations ago) As humans we still feel the need to “fit in” and be accepted, but with the ever-changing ideas of sexuality and identity, almost everything is accepted.

Pioneer Modernism

Pioneer Modernism was a very involved and thorough movement. Greenhalgh mentions twelve different elements that Pioneer Modernism consisted of. One of the problems with this stage of modernism in comparison to the International Style was that the principles of one school were not followed by all of the others, which in turn made the movement patchy from the start. There was too much variety of emphasis on different principles. The Pioneers in essence formulated the theories that were later used in the International Style. The theories unfortunately stayed in their idea stage during Pioneer Modernism because at the time they didn’t have the resources or any other means to turn the idea into something existent. This is not to say that their ideas and theories were illogical, they were just impractical for the economics and politics of the time. It was just circumstantial. Shame.

First Things First 2000

The First Things First Manifesto 2000 is very similar to the one written in 1964. In thirty six years hardly anything has changed in terms of commercial design versus educational design. The manifesto states, “The profession’s time and energy is used up by manufacturing demand for things that are inessential at best.” This statement and the manifesto itself almost makes me want to laugh. Here is something written by designers who have obviously made their money and paid their bills by commercial designing. If they don’t want to design commercially…then don’t. Don’t be a designer then, or don’t have a professional in design. Design for fun and get a different job to pay the bills. From personal experience, I already know that if I pursue a career in design, I will be using my skills and talent to market a brand. Many of the design assignments in a graphic design program at any college (including Mason Gross) teach you as a designer to create brand identities, and to learn how to market products in a commercial world. This whole shifting priorities concept will never work unless you start at the root. The root in this case is the graphic design students at any university. Distribute this manifesto to them, not as an assignment to “respond to” but just as a manifesto itself. Hopefully it will change the priorities of these graphic design students before they enter the professional world and become tainted like every other designer out there. (Who have no room to complain about anything considering they make their money by commercial design)

First Things First 1964:

This manifesto is interesting because it states, “by far the greatest time and effort of those working in the advertising industry are wasted on these trivial purposes, which contribute little or nothing to our national prosperity.” Garland is referring to such entities as cat food, detergent, cigarettes, etc. I’m sure Garland realized that all of those “trivial purposes” were contributing the most to national prosperity. (In the monetary sense) I agree with the ideas of the manifesto. During the 1960’s design could have been used in more efficient ways to contribute to national prosperity. (In the educational sense) The problem is: designers can’t shift their priorities if the country itself is not shifting its priorities. If there is a greater demand for advertising cat food than there is for designing educational aids, or periodicals, then designers need to design what is in demand. Actually, that is not entirely true. They can design whatever they wish, however they will only get paid to design what is in demand. This is a difficult topic because it is discouraging and almost pathetic that the country’s priorities are geared more towards commercial needs than to educational or cultural needs. As a designer, one must ask themselves, “Do I want to design as a career, or do I want to design to change the world?” Yes, there are more worthy purposes for visual communications, but designers are not politicians, or members of the government. They can’t change what is in demand at the time (in this case commercial design) so this manifesto is more of a plea to the country to change its priorities, which hasn’t happened and sadly will not happen from what one can see in the First Things First Manifesto 2000.

No Logo

According to Klein, brand management and marketing are becoming the focus of companies in North America. Numerous corporations are finding ways to save money on production to in turn, spend money establishing their brand identity and launching ad campaigns. Companies are now outsourcing their production to third party contractors to reduce the price of labor. North American companies have closed almost all of their factories. “The reason for this shift is simple: building a superbrand is an extraordinarily costly project, needing constant managing, tending and replenishing.” By outsourcing their production, the companies are creating and controlling their demand by exhausting their energy on marketing strategies. The more money they can spend on advertising their brand, the more their product will be in demand by the public. Companies are also spending a lot of time establishing their brand as a lifestyle choice. For example, Nike and Adidas are not only a shoes and clothing companies, but they are considered the choice of athletes. They are promoting a type of lifestyle.

There is great disconnection between the product and its means of production. Since companies are outsourcing to third party contractors they are no longer concerned about the means of production or the working conditions in their factories. It almost becomes a human rights issue when dealing with working conditions overseas. However, the big North American companies naively defend their outsourcing decisions by saying that they do not employ people from places like Haiti…the contractors do. The companies are turning a blind eye to what is going on in their factories overseas so that they are not liable for anything that happens. Ken Green a Disney spokesperson asks, “With the newsprint you use, do you have any idea of the labour conditions involved to produce it?” The answer to that would probably be no. However at least with a newspaper the public is buying it for the material printed on it which is produced in the United States. So at least some of the labor conditions are overseen by U.S. companies. Although big corporations are outsourcing to contractors, they still have a way to keep in contact with the contractors and follow up on working conditions. Instead, they choose again to defend their decision with a comment about newsprint that doesn’t even equate to what they are doing.

Something that is very interesting from Klein’s article is that company logos are no longer displayed across their factories. The reason? Because there are none left in the United States! They especially don’t want their company logo plastered on a factory in China because they want to keep their means of production a secret. This may be because they are embarrassed of their outsourcing decisions, or they are too busy building such a strong reputation and brand name in the United States that they don’t want to taint their brand by admitting that Haitians and Chinese actually make their product. When was the last time you saw “MADE IN THE USA”?